Everybody needs a weekend away every now and then. This past weekend, I flew up to Portland, Oregon, a city I had first visited two years ago for the first Urban Sketching Symposium. I wanted to come back and see some places I had previously missed, catch up with some local urban sketchers I know, eat from food carts, sample local beer, and spend time by the river. I like it down by the river. This was the first sketch I did after arriving at the hotel and light-railing it downtown, a big boat on the Willamette. The bridge in the background is the Burnside Bridge; those spiky towers belong to the Convention Center. As I sketched, cyclists cycled by, joggers jogged on, and gaggles of geese giggled at my goggles.
You can expect the next week or so of posts to be about my trip to Portland, either in a linear or nonlinear or scrawled comic or urban dance form. I got rained on rather a lot, but that was ok, it’s Portland rain which is sweeter than other rain, and contains beer and voodoo donuts.
petescully 
Wow! What a lovely sketch. All the detailing is impressive. Did you manage to get in any bar sketches when you stopped in for a local micro brew or two? Cheers!
Bar sketches? Oh yes…! One or two, to be scanned..
Looking forward to seeing the bar sketches. Alway a favorite. That tugboat looks like the Oregon Maritime Museum. Really great composition in the sketch. Cheers!
I think it was that, I remember the sign now. I enjoyed sketching the Portland bars and brewpubs, and everyone I met was an artist and a beer expert. Nice place.
loved this 1
Thanks!
I remember eating a meal on a river boat just like this in Portland when we lived there (1974-1975). Fabulous sketch!
Cheers! On this trip I ate almost every meal outside, from food carts. I sketched them too (because you have to, it’s #11 on the USk manifesto)
Beautiful sketch. The Portland USK workshop in August sketched the bridge in exactly that spot!
It’s a lovely spot. Though there was a lot of goose dropping about.
Looks great, wonderful composition.
Your post makes me want to go on a little get away.
Cheers! And it’s good to get away, whenever possible.